Yeast Genetics and Cell Factories
Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a prime model organism, as well as a cell factory of choice for production of many bulk and specialty chemicals, including proteins.
From the model organism perspective, we have been using S. cerevisiae, the most suitable eukaryotic model organism for genome-scale studies, to investigate basic biological phenomena. Here, the main research focus of the Department’s yeast group is on global regulation of cellular homeostasis, with a specific focus on lipid metabolism. We have also been using functional genomics approaches to use yeast cells as a ‘living test-tube’ to identify molecular mechanisms of action of different perturbers, including proteinaceous toxins.
Yeast-based cell factories are another topic of our research. We have been combining polygenic trait analysis and functional genomics to engineer novel traits amenable for further development of cell factories on the yeast cell platform.
⇒ Please contact Prof. Uroš Petrovič for more information.
